Many companies develop products that meet the particular needs of a customer. Smaller companies may have a team of engineers that work together closely and can rely on their past experience to determine whether a previously created product can be re-used for each customer. Larger companies, however, may have many engineers working in multiple offices and multiple countries. For these larger companies, tracking and managing previously created products becomes difficult. Some engineers will store product information and test results in spreadsheets, others might use a word processing program, and still others may rely on handwritten notes or their memory. Because the products and product specifications are not available in a common format, engineers may re-create a product that the company has already developed. This can lead to increased costs and delays in the manufacturing process.
One tool that has been developed for managing product development is U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,585 to Planalp et al. (the '585 patent). The '585 patent describes a system and method for managing product development using a relational database. The database includes design requirements of a finished product, electronic tracking of changes to a product during development, and archiving of previous versions of a product for subsequent access.
Although the tool of the '585 patent provides a database for archiving previous products, the '585 patent only allows searching for exact copies of previously developed products. If a customer requests a product that does not exactly match a previously developed product, the requested product must be developed. However, other products may have been developed that would meet the needs of the customer. Indeed, customers may prefer to modify a previously developed product, which would reduce costs and allow earlier delivery compared to creating an entirely new product. Moreover, the '585 patent does not provide a standard database for terms, which can cause an engineer to be unable to find a previously created product when other engineers describe the product using different terminology. As a result, engineers would re-design and re-develop the product, leading to delays and increased costs.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.